Congress workers vent ire on party netas at Begusarai

BAGUSARAI: Congress’s Bihar incharge Bhakta Charan Das and party’s state president Madan Mohan Jha had a torrid time while offering garlands to the statue of noted Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ on Barauni Zero Mile roundabout in the town on Saturday.
While the Congress leaders followed by their supporters made bid to climb the stairs to garland the statue, the supporters of a local party leaders started raising slogans against them and even tried to stop them from garlanding the statue by obstructing their way to the podium.They even chanted “Bhrasta pradesh netritva wapas jao” (corrupt state leadership go back) slogans.
With one faction pushing the leaders to garland the statue and another posing stiff resistance, pandemonium broke out near the statue, prompting the bodyguards and other security personnel present there to step in to make the two senior Congress functionaries able to offer garlands and rescue them to their vehicles.
The protesters alleged selling of party tickets to the other constituents of Mahagathbandhan in the state assembly elections last year despite Congress having strong foothold in at least three of the seven assembly constituencies in Begusarai district.
A supporter of the rebel Congress leader Garib Das, who had contested as an independent candidate from Bachhwara after the seat was allotted to CPI in the Mahagathbandhan, alleged that the “corrupt state leadership was responsible for the debacle in the assembly elections”.
Incidentally, party supporters had expressed anguish after Congress claim on Bachhwara and Matihani assembly seats was denied in favour of the Left parties. Only Congress’s state women cell president Amita Bhushan had contested as a sitting Congress MLA from Begusarai seat, but lost to BJP’s Kundan Kumar.
Amita, who was also present there on Saturday, dubbed it as a minor incident. She denied any scuffle between rival factions of the party. “The two leaders along with former state Congress president Anil Sharma and several other senior state leaders had come here to launch the second phase of ‘Kisan Satyagraha Yatra’ in the state on the call of former party president Rahul Gandhi to protest against the farm laws.
“A tractor rally was organized from Barauni Zero Mile to Har-Har Mahadeo chowk in Begusarai, from where it turned into a foot march to the local Congress Bhawan. It was all a smooth affair with hundreds of party supporters participating in the programme. The second phase of Kisan Satyagraha Yatra is to cover 16 districts,” she said.